Increased funding to fight flooding this winter

Hampshire County Council is pumping an extra £250,000 into this year’s highways maintenance budget to tackle blocked drains and gullies, particularly on roads known as flooding ‘hot spots’.

The County Council is also calling on householders to check their ditches and watercourses in the constant fight against floods.

Hampshire County Council spends over £2 million a year maintaining 900 kilometres of highway drains and over 200,000 roadside gullies. Autumn is a peak time for flooding as roadside drains and gullies can become blocked by fallen leaves.

Parish councils play a key role in the county’s plans to prevent flooding and deal with the impact of floods on local communities. The County Council was the first authority in the country to form parish partnerships - self help groups to warn and inform local people when flooding is imminent, and help clear up afterwards.

In recent years there has been more intense rainfall and an increase in the frequency of localised flooding on roads. Keeping highway drainage systems well maintained is a top priority, but they were not designed to deal with the more extreme storms and rainfall which can lead to surface flooding. Replacing the whole system would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

Councillor Mel Kendal, Executive Member for Environment, said: “Localised flooding means we have to direct extra resources at making sure our roads and communities are safe.

The extra £250,000 is in addition to the £56 million the County Council is spending on the highways this year across almost 6,000 miles of Hampshire roads. The work will be carried out by Amey, the county council’s highways contractor. There is also an annual gully cleansing programme which targets known ‘problem gullies’. Hampshire County Council and Amey are continuing to work together to identify any gullies requiring special treatment.